Hook and eye.



N0. 633,7!8. Patented Sept. 26, I899. A. F. GERMAN. HOOK AND EYE.

(Applicst-ion filed Feb. 21, 1899.)

(No Model.)

170 6222??? Aleflffiermm,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT F. GERMAN, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

HQOK AND EYE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 633,718, dated September 26, 1899.

Application filed February 21, 1899. Serial No. 706,318. (No model.)

To (all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT F. GERMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hooks and Eyes, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is the production of a combined hook and eye each made of a single piece of wire and each so fashioned and adapted and reciprocally related to the other that they will not be liable to become accidentally detached when united and in use, said hook and eye also to be simple in construction, cheap in first cost, easy to manufacture, durable, and, moreover, to possess other desirable features and characteristics. With this end in view I fashion a hook by first bending a piece of Wire at its middle portion upon itself through approximately an arc of one hundred and eighty degrees till the ends are parallel, then curve the integral end portion to constitute the bill of the hook, and finally turn one of the free ends of the wire to the right and the other to the left, so as to form two circular eyes, and I fashion the eye by coiling a piece of wire at its middle portion upon itself to constitute a circular eye and then bend the free ends to form two independent circular eyes.

My invention consists in certain specific novelties of construction and the combination and adaptation of parts, as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one example only of the physical embodiment of the invention, which is made by the best mode I have so far devised for applying the principle.

Figure I is aplau view of the example, the hook and eye being in the relative positions which they occupy when in use and when each is attached to parts which are to be held united. Fig. 2 is a side plan view of Fig. 1, also showing in dotted lines the eye turned from the position it occupies in Fig. 1 through an arc of ninety degrees to the position in which it can be disconnected from the hook.

Referring to the figures, the letterA designates the hook as a whole; B, the blunt point of the same, formed by bending the wire at the middle point thereof through an arc of one hundred and eighty degrees till the ends are parallel; O, the curved portion or bill; D, a narrow passage or opening adjacent the point, and E E are the eyes made by bending or curving each free end of the wire to the shape shown.

F designates the eye as a whole, G a circular eye formed by coiling the middle portion of the wire upon itself once or more, and H II are the eyes made by bending each of the substantially parallel free ends of the wire to a circular form.

It will be noted on an inspection ofthe illustrations that at the extreme end of the eye the coils lie in parallel planes and that the greatest diameter of a section of the two wires at the point I is greater than the width of the passage or opening D adjacent the point of the hook, and that the smallest diameter of the section at the point I is about equal to the width of the said passage or opening. By this peculiar and novel construction and adaptation of the parts the eye must occupy the position relative to the hook which is shown in dotted lines, Fig. 2,'when it is to be adjusted into position or detached or unhooked.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that I have produced a combined hook and eye especially adapted for use in detachably securing the parts of garments and other objects each to the other, so that they will not accidentally become separated when once united, and that the combined device fulfils all the conditions set forth as the object of myinvention, besides possessing other desirable characteristics.

I am aware that prior to my invention attempts have been made to provide ahook and eye for general use which will not accidentally become disconnected when in service; but in the majority of cases the attainment of this end has been sought by re-forming or giving some particular shape to the hook. I successfully re-form the eye and adapt it to the opening adjacent the point of the hook for the same purpose.

Nhile I have shown and described only one example and shape of the physical embodiment of the invention,l do not thereby intend to exclude from the scope thereof minor changes and modifications, such as those appertaining to size or degree or the location of the narrow passage D of the hook, all of which would constitute colorable and not sub stantial departures.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A combined hook and eye, the former having eyes at the free ends and an opening, as D, adjacent the point; and the latter having eyes at its free ends, and coiled upon itself at the middle portion to form another eye G, the greatest diameter at the point I thereof being greater than the diameter of the opening or passage under or adjacent the point of the hook; whereby the hook or eye must be turned through an arc of approximately ninety degrees, or occupy positions approximately at right angles each to the other, to effect a release or withdrawal; in substance as and for the purpose set forth. 7

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses;

ALBERT F. GERMAN. Witnesses:

O. H. MELLHoP, LEWIS RYANS. 

